1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to heating, cooling and ventilation systems for building structures, and more particularly, relates to the creation of an enclosure, which through the specific attributes of the envelope, aids with the space conditioning of the interior habitable spaces.
2. Background and Description of Related Art
There are buildings with roof systems which are designed to utilize solar exposure or to isolate the exposure to help regulate interior temperatures. There are also buildings that implement a passive solar strategy to help heat the interior. Some energy efficient buildings use heat recovery systems that use heat transfer to precondition air to lower loads on heating units.
While a passive solar approach is beneficial, it is difficult to implement given the need for direct solar exposure on high heat mass materials and the need to control the heat released from the material. There are issues of occupant discomfort from heat and glare in interior spaces with intense solar exposure. The sun can also damage interior finishes. Utilizing a passive solar approach to move heat between spaces horizontally or by providing walls that absorb solar heat tend to block views from the interior spaces and can, in certain situations, actually reduce interior light levels. Energy efficient buildings that heat air sandwiched between high thermal mass walls and exterior windows while passively heating air are subject to molds and dirt because the air space is hard to access.
Typically, in buildings, there is a single insulating layer between the interior habitable spaces and exterior air. There are cool roof designs where the roof surface floats above the insulating layer which is beneficial in warm climates and there are warm roof designs that use the sun to heat the roof surface which is beneficial in cold climates.
What is needed is an enclosure system, separate from habitable spaces, that can be opened or closed, depending upon immediate environmental conditions, to aid with the thermal conditioning of interior spaces. Typical single layer insulating systems are not flexible in that they only provide a thermal barrier as opposed to a multilayer enclosure utilizing the enclosed space to either contain air for additional insulation or to induce air movement into and out of the enclosure to draw warm air from the interior and to isolate a warm roof surface from interior spaces. A typical passive solar heating approach has the potential to create occupant discomfort while the sun warms heat absorbing materials. Thus, what is needed is a dynamic enclosure that radiantly heats air in a separate space and then transfers the heated air to the interior in a controlled fashion via a furnace or heat pump.